The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program, and particularly to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program suitable for use in a case where content displayed on a certain screen device which configures a home network is identified by an ACR (Automatic Content Recognition) service and metadata corresponding to the content is displayed on a different screen device or an application is executed in accordance with the progression of the content.
For example, it is supposed to display, to a viewer of a TV (television) program, information (performers, a plot outline, a trailer and so forth) relating to the TV broadcast, information useful to a viewer (news, weather forecast, traffic information and so forth) although it does not have a direct relationship to the program, and so forth on the screen.
In order to implement this, a command used to acquire and start up an application program for exclusive use (hereinafter referred to simply as application) may be transmitted to a TV receiver or the like in a linked relationship with the progression of the program. Actually, in Japan, Europe and so forth, this has been implemented by transmitting the command or the application making use of a frequency band for data broadcasting in a TV broadcasting signal (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-50237).
In the meantime, in the United States, a frequency band for data broadcasting is not provided in a TV broadcasting signal, and a replacing method is not established. Therefore, it has not been implemented to execute an application in a linked relationship with the progression of a program.
It is to be noted that, in the United States, the number of households in which a program is viewed through a CATV, an IPTV or the like is greater than the number of households in which a TV broadcasting wave is received directly by and viewed on a TV receiver. Since the CATV or the IPTV sometimes extracts only video and audio signals of a program from a TV broadcasting signal and distributes the video and audio signals, even if a frequency band for data broadcasting is provided in a TV broadcasting signal in the United states, there is no guarantee that a data broadcasting signal including an application and related data is transmitted to a reception apparatus.
Further, it is requested recently to execute, even in a case in which not only a program being broadcast but also a program recorded, videos reproduced from a package medium such as a DVD or a BD, moving pictures, music or the like downloaded through the Internet (such programs and so forth mentioned are hereinafter referred to as content) are being viewed, an application in a linked relationship with the progression of the content.
In order to implement this request, it is necessary to identify the piece of content being viewed, and as one method therefor, a technique called ACR (Automatic Content Recognition) service is available (refer, for example, to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-168801).
The ACR service is implemented by an ACR client and an ACR server. The ACR client, which is incorporated in a content reproduction apparatus such as a TV receiver, extracts, from content being viewed, signature data representative of a characteristic of the content and notifies the ACR server to request identification of the content. The ACR server compares the received signature data with signature data of content recorded in a database in advance to identify the content being viewed on the content reproduction apparatus. Further, the ACR server issues an ACR response including metadata relating to the identified content and information indicative of an application to be executed in a linked relationship (such application is hereinafter referred to as linked application) to the ACR client.
The content reproduction apparatus in which the ACR client which receives the response is incorporated acquires a linked application from a predetermined server and executes the linked application.